Crime & Courts

Substitute teacher charged with assaulting 5-year-old at SC elementary school, cops say

A substitute teacher at a South Carolina elementary school has been charged with assaulting a 5-year-old boy, police said.
A substitute teacher at a South Carolina elementary school has been charged with assaulting a 5-year-old boy, police said. Getty Images/iStockphoto

A substitute teacher has been charged with injuring a 5-year-old boy at a South Carolina elementary school, the Moncks Corner Police Department said.

During the April 3 incident in the media center at Foxbank Elementary School, substitute teacher Melody Durant grabbed the student, WCSC reported.

A police report said the 48-year-old Durant reacted after the 5-year-old and another student got “into a small shoving match over a seat,” according to WCIV.

Durant then forcibly removed the first student from the seat, grabbing him by his right arm, per postandcourier.com.

According to the police report, video surveillance showed Durant “yanking up on the child’s right arm and pulls him around, at one point pulling him (so) far vertically that his feet nearly, if not completely, come off the floor,” according to WCSC.

The incident caused the student to suffer “a minor injury,” WCIV reported. Durant has been charged with third-degree assault, according to the TV station.

After reviewing the footage, the school contacted the police and the child’s mother, as well as Kelly Staffing Services, which placed the substitute in the classroom, where she was not allowed to return, according to WCSC.

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Noah Feit
The State
Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription
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